A St. Mary’s judge ordered Wednesday that a Great Mills woman be held in jail in lieu of $7,500 bond on an arson charge from a fire last fall at her home, where an injured firefighter had to be flown to a hospital.

The mortgage payments had not been paid for several months at Mary Ellen Mattingly’s home on Garfield Street, according to a charges application filed by state investigators. Court papers state that Mattingly’s lawyer indicated Wednesday that a plea might be filed that the suspect cannot be held criminally responsible for her alleged actions.

Mattingly, 61, told authorities after the Nov. 25 blaze that she spilled kerosene while filling a heater on a bedroom floor, court papers state, and that she briefly went for a walk before she returned and found firefighters battling the blaze that originated in that room.

The kerosene heater was not damaged, however, and firefighters found it in the home’s living room, deputy state fire marshal Jeffrey Frye wrote in the charges application.

Carl Brown, a Bay District volunteer firefighter, was flown to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and to be checked for possible other injuries, after he and firefighter Daniel Martin fell through a floor while they took part in dousing the blaze, Fire Chief Shawn Downs said later that week. Martin suffered burns on his arms and legs, the chief said, but declined medical treatment.